We explored the Hardangerfjorden up to Jondal and then turned around and headed out, landing in Haugesund. We are tied up to the quay in the middle of the town. It is a great location, close to everything we need and very cheap. Only problem is the local nightclub is busy until 4:00 a.m., and can be very noisy. They do like to party on a Saturday night. Haugesund is a fast-growing community, mainly due to oil rig production and the jobs it provides.
Our boat is laid out for the two of us to be very comfortable and the dance becomes quite different when we have company on-board. But we do love having our guests share our experiences with us and when they leave we feel a great hole that it takes a while to fill. Tom has taken off, he is going to work on a Norwegian farm for two days with a gentleman he met here. And then he is off to Oslo to fly home. We have really enjoyed having him with us.
Nokomis, oddly enough, is not heading south and then east, but heading west. We hope to land somewhere between Aberdeen and Newcastle on England's east coast. We have a good northerly wind for a couple of days and are confidant we can make good time across. We hope to be in London in 7 to 10 days. Cruisers like to say their plans are made in sand and they are sticking to them. Wish us well on this crossing.

May you have fair winds and dry bilges for your return to Jolly Old. Not a bit too soon as the N. Atlantic is starting to act up.

Up!

Vicki2013/09/05, Sunndall

We came up to the docks at a campground in Sunndal, on the Maurangerfjorden. We were 30 feet from shore and the water was over 70 feet deep. The next day we got up and took off on a hike up to the Bondhusbreen Glacier. It is an off-shoot of the Folgefonna Glacier, the third largest glacier in Norway. I was hoping to reach the glacier and be able to touch it. The first ¾ of the hike was quite doable, good path and not too steep but with awesome views. We went around the glacial lake of Bondhus and up to some flat terrain below the glacier. Then the going got rough, scrambling up rocks, maneuvering through bushes, finding the path, losing the path. We were up there with the goats. Turning around to look at the gorgeous view, we would get dizzy from the height.
I was within a 100 yards of the glacier and could go no further. Rocks and moss were slippery and it just did not seem safe. Can you see in the picture how blue the ice is? I did get to wash my face and hands in some of the glacial water melting from the ice. Very refreshing! So, even though the hiking was great, and the view breathtaking, is a journey a success if you don't reach your goal? In this case, I have to say a resounding yes.

We are making our way through some of the southern fjords. The mountains up close are green, but the mountains behind are gray because of the mist. And the further rows turn an even lighter gray, until it is hard to distinguish the mountains from the clouds.
Our first anchorage was on the island of Lysoy. We had to come in through a very narrow cut, less than30 feet across. It was a wonderful, secure anchorage, with high cliffs around. We were able to get off and hike around the island. The plan is to sail 4 to 6 hours a day, find an anchorage and hike around. We will be exploring the Hardangerfjorden.

I'm having so much fun living vicariously through you. Jack and I are hoping to visit next summer :)

Leaving friends

Vicki2013/09/02, Bergen, Norway

We had a wonderful four days of exploring Bergen. We saw many of the museums and had a walking tour through the historic area. It is quite a vibrant area, and being at a dock right in the center of town meant it was easy to see everything. We also had some rainy periods, which meant laying about and watching the Matrix movies.
A couple, Sibylle and Markus on s/v Despina, that we had met in Lerwick on the Shetland Islands, pulled in and rafted up to our boat. They are a very interesting couple and we had some great meals together. The hard part of cruising is saying good-bye to people you meet.

What can I say, after you get over the sticker shock, Bergen is fun. The weather is warm and I have sun on my back as I sit in the cockpit of Nokomis. We are in the harbor, right in the center of town. Lots of people walking by, checking out our boat, asking questions about the passage over. Tom likes to act as if he has done it all, but if asked point-blank will admit to not doing the Atlantic passage. He just read Joseph Conrad's "Typhon' so now we call him First Mate Jukes.
I am happy we stocked up on food in Scotland. Being so close to everything we can head out for adventure, come back to the boat to eat and then head out again. No expensive restaurant splurges for us in Norway. Besides the fjord, Bergen is surrounded by seven mountains so once you leave the harbor area, everything is a climb.

We passaged from the Shetland Isles to Bergen, Norway. We started at six in the evening, had a night, a day, another night and part of the following day. By the second night we were used to the two hour on/four hour off schedule and slept better. The best part of the passage was on the second night, during my shift, there was quite a spectacular display of northern lights. And I did see one dolphin splashing through the phosphorescence. Made the two hours go by quickly. During the day we ended up sailing quite close to an oil rig, making sure to stay more than one nautical mile away, as required. First sighting of an oil rig, not quite as exciting as seeing a whale. But another big milestone for us - we are now east of 0 degrees!